TEWU to CHASS: Do not intimidate our members.

The Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary School (CHASS) has been ordered by the Teachers and Educational Workers Union (TEWU) to stop upsetting and forcing its members who are on strike to cook while they are on strike.

 It was unfortunate that "information reaching us is that some members of the CHASS are intimidating our members, the non-teaching staff, especially the kitchen staff, and forcing them to stay at work," according to the statement. 

To put it mildly, we view these CHASS members' behavior to be extremely regrettable. "With regard to this industrial action, we, the union's leadership, do not intend to engage in any conflict with anyone. In a statement released by the TEWU General Secretary, Mark Dankyira Korankye, he stated, We do not understand why the non-teaching personnel are being handled this way when no teacher is being threatened or compelled to remain in the classroom. To emphasize their demand for a cost-of-living allowance, four teacher unions—the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), the Teachers and Educational Workers' Union (TEWU), and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers, Ghana—withdrew their services from pre-tertiary educational institutions. It instructed the heads to stop using threats and intimidation and asked the GES Director-General to call them to order. 

 By using this medium, we are also informing all non-teaching employees to stop working and remain at home until you hear from us, your leaders. The Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), and the Coalition of Concerned Teachers-Ghana (CCT-GH) called an indefinite strike action on Monday after the government ignored their request for a 20% cost of living allowance (COLA). Speaking on behalf of the unions, Thomas Tanko Musah, General Secretary of GNAT, said that despite their repeated requests to the government since February of this year, nothing had been done. He stated that the strike was necessary because the government's deadline for approving the allowance passed last Thursday. 

By doing this, we are alerting the public to the fact that both teaching employees and non-teaching staff will no longer be employed in the pre-tertiary educational sector.